Russia hits its own chopper? First Ka-29 downed amid Ukrainian drone attack

Interesting Engineering carries an article about first Ka-29 downed amid Ukrainian drone attack, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

The destruction of a Ka-29 helicopter signifies the first loss of this model for Russia in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

In a significant development, a Ka-29 Helix-B assault helicopter was shot down near the resort city of Anapa on the Black Sea during a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack overnight from June 20 into June 21.

The attack targeted Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar region, where Anapa is located, according to both Russian and Ukrainian military officials. However, conflicting reports have emerged regarding the specific circumstances surrounding the helicopter’s downing.

This would be the first known loss of a Helix, a heavily armed helicopter equipped with various gun pods, rocket pods, provisions for an external cannon, and a rotary machine gun in the nose. The Helix family can also sport door guns for drone hunting.

Ukraine has targeted several military bases on Russian territory with drones, asserting them as legitimate military targets. These ongoing attacks pose a significant threat to Russia’s most advanced combat jets and aircraft as the conflict continues.

Russian perspective on helicopter fate

According to an influential Russian source, the Helix may have been lost due to friendly fire while searching for Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). Another account suggests that it occurred amidst a significant aerial and USV assault, resulting in the deaths of nearly 30 Russian soldiers in occupied Crimea and Krasnodar.

“In Anapa, our own air defense shot down our own helicopter,” stated the Thirteenth Telegram channel, managed by Russian soldier and milblogger Egor Guzenko.

During its mission to locate Ukrainian drone boats in the Black Sea, “one of our Pantsir air defense systems mistakenly targeted the helicopter,” the Thirteenth added, noting that four Russian troops lost their lives in the incident.

“The incident coincided [during] a night attack by Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs and unmanned boats, in the destruction of which these helicopters were actively involved,” the Russian Military Observer Telegram channel wrote, The War Zone reported.

USV strike on Helix with R-73 missile

One Ukrainian Telegram channel suggested that the Helix was brought down by a Ukrainian USV equipped with an infrared-guided R-73 (AA-11 Archer) short-range air-to-air missile.

The Ukrainian VRB news outlet suggested on its Telegram channel that the Ka-29 might have been targeted by a modified R93 missile on a Ukrainian USV, although they did not provide evidence. They claimed that Russian forces were operating near the USVs at a distance of less than 3 km, putting them within reach of the R-73RDM-2 missile’s range.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have not yet provided comments on the downing of the Ka-29. However, if the claim of the drone boat-launched R-73 missile is accurate, it would mark the first successful instance of a Russian aviation asset being brought down by such a system.

Amidst the confirmed large-scale aerial drone assault acknowledged by both Russian and Ukrainian military officials, the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) also reported successfully thwarting an attack involving over 100 aerial drones and sea drones.